Mother & Son Arrested In Cyclist's Hit-&-Run Death

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Police have arrested two people in connection with the hit-and-run death of a cyclist in St. Paul.

Fifty-two-year-old Jose Hernandez Solano, a dishwasher at Brasa Rotisserie, was biking home from work just after midnight on Nov. 26 when the driver of an SUV hit him at West Seventh Street and Grand Avenue and drove away.

Solano was on life support for a week and a half at Regions Hospital. He died Dec. 7. 

Surveillance cameras captured the moments before and after the crash, and police had been searching for the suspect vehicle for nearly a month.

Sunday, St. Paul police tweeted that 47-year-old Abbey Rose Hegner was arrested for aiding an offender, while 28-year-old Dustin Joel Hegner-Royce was arrested for criminal vehicular homicide.

Police said the two suspects are mother and son.

Abbey Hegner is the owner of the SUV, according to police. They say the incident is still under investigation.

Sunday afternoon, dozens of people turned out for a bike ride to honor the victim. They rode together from Brasa to a spot near the crash scene.

There they erected a "ghost bike." It's painted white and locked to a pole, to mark the location where Solano was hit, and to warn other cyclists to stay safe.

"Jose, he was an organ donor. The same night he passed away he saved one person's life right away, and then two more people. I feel like Jose is going to be around," Solano's friend David Hernandez said.